The mitochondrial genome has been the traditional focus of most research into ancient DNA, owing to its high copy number and population-level variability. Despite this long-standing interest in mitochondrial DNA, it was only in 2001 that the first complete ancient mitogenomic sequences were obtained. As a result of various methodological developments, including the introduction of high-throughp...

Inscriptions are used as resources for studying ancient history of any counties of the world. Brahmi script is one of the most important ancient letters in South Asia. It became the matrix of Debanagari character used for Sanskrit and Hindi. And, it produced Burmese script, Khmer script, Thai alphabet, Laotian alphabet, Tibetan alphabet, etc., during the last two thousand years. The aim of this...

The Pacific region provides unique opportunities to study human evolution including through analyses of ancient DNA. While some of the earliest studies involving ancient DNA from skeletal remains focused on Pacific samples, in the following 25 years, several factors meant that little aDNA research, particularly research focused on human populations, has emerged. This paper briefly presents the ...

Studies of ancient DNA specimens started 25 years ago. At that time short mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) fragments were the main targets in ancient DNA studies. The last three years were especially productive in the development of new methods of DNA purification and analysis. Complete mtDNA molecules and relatively large fragments of nuclear DNA are the targets of ancient DNA studies today. Ancient ...

Hydrothermal systems have prevailed throughout geological history on earth, and ancient ARCHAEAN hydrothermal deposits could provide clues to understanding earth's earliest biosphere. Modern hydrothermal systems support a plethora of microorganisms and macroorganisms, and provide good comparisons for paleontological interpretation of ancient hydrothermal systems. However, all of the microfossil...

Minton, W. F. Bottke, H. V. Frey, R. J. Lillis, J. H. Roberts, S. T. Stewart Purdue University, Dept. of Earth & Atm. Sci., 550 Stadium Mall Dr., West Lafayette, IN 47907, [email protected], Southwest Research Institute and NASA Lunar Science Institute, 1050 Walnut St. Ste. 300, Boulder, CO 80302, Geodynamics Branch, Goddard Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, University of California, Berkel...

This special issue of Parasite Immunology charts the rapid advances made in our understanding of the myriad interactions between innate lymphoid cells and parasites and how these interactions have shaped our evolutionary history. Here, we provide an overview of the issue and highlight key findings from studies in mice and man.

The evolutionary history and age of Plasmodium vivax has been inferred as both recent and ancient by several studies, mainly using mitochondrial genome diversity. Here we address the age of P. vivax on the Indian subcontinent using selectively neutral housekeeping genes and tandem repeat loci. Analysis of ten housekeeping genes revealed a substantial number of SNPs (n = 75) from 100 P. vivax is...

The lion-bull iconography during the Achaemenian period of ancient Persia has generated different theories of astronomicaland seasonal events besides the suggestions that it could be the symbol of the time cycle of the day, with lion representingthe sun and bull the night. However, the present paper draws the reader’s attention to the hitherto unexplored angle ofzoology to understand physiognom...